NCBWA 2013 Preseason All-American Team

IRVING, Texas – Coming off a year filled with surprises such as Stony Brook’s and Kent State’s first trips to the NCAA World Series and several other national developments, the 13th annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association preseason All-America team highlights the always exciting world of the nation’s best baseball student-athletes for 2013.

Next month’s practices signify the 154th season of college baseball with the 2013 All-America squad signify the direction that Division I baseball continues to go – clutch hitting, solid defense and pinpoint control pitching.

With defending NCAA World Series champ Arizona hit heavily by graduation and signings, the upcoming crop of stars hails from the talented Pac-12 diamond tradition as well as 19 conferences and 43 schools nationwide.

Returning first team standouts from the post-2012 NCBWA All-America team embody this DI diversity as New Mexico 3B and 2012 co-Mountain West Conference Player of the Year (with teammate and first team pre-2013 catcher Mitchell Garver) and LSU OF Raph Rhymes, the ’12 SEC Player of the Year, lead the way.

In consultation with individual schools’ media relations offices, the NCBWA All-America committee for pre-2013 had many difficult decisions at defensive positions filled with potential superstars and one of the deepest pools of pitching nominees in the two decades of NCBWA All-America crews chosen prior to playing seasons.